Chicken and herb.

 

No, it's not what u'r thinking... I'm referring to our "free range" pet chickens. I eventually found a new young Pekin hen advertised and rushed over to get the last one. She's a little red mix and looks like a "boshoender". She will be fondly known as Katrientjie ;)

 

So Friday, just after Katrien's arrival, the "in-laws" came to visit and I proudly picked up our older little black Pekin hen to show of her soft, fluffy feathers. 5 Min later my skin was crawling with the speedy migration of a few hundred minute little lice - yuck!! When I checked in on our new arrival and after a hilarious little chicken chase around the coop and imminent escape to the outside, I checked on Hettie to see if I can see the lice on her. Boy! Could I see them - her whole face and body was teeming with these little buggers! It was actually disgusting how I have neglected her needs.

 

So, Saturday morning at the crack of dawn, I jumped out of bed to search for organic remedies for these little pests: Consulted my chicken book and all I could find was the conventional wisdom of lice powder (which will surely not be organic) and a few other ideas but no solutions. I decided that I will do a proper scrub down of the entire coop with a strong herbal spray (yet-to-be-determined), put a few drops Apple Cider Vinegar (organic and unfiltered) in the drinking water and provide a suitable sand-pit for dust baths plus some oyster shell grit. I will possibly also have to reconsider what I feed her because I see she doesn't eat all her food and I don't like wasting! I made up my own mix before, but will have to figure out what is best to feed the 2 of them, especially since Katrientjie is a little younger and probably needs more protein.

 

Delicious!

So, yesterday was the 3rd day of the 2nd stretch of my holiday (confused...? so am I ;)

 

I decided that I would make us a Moroccan chicken and chickpea soup and so I Googled 3 recipes that I combined to make an awesome flavour-filled pot of steaming soup. After I bought 2 whole chickens and a few minor ingredients from the supermarket, Jenni and I ventured into our garden to harvest a few sprigs of this and that and gather an entire basket of veg fresh for the pot. Taking Jenn along of coarse makes the job take twice as long, since I have to keep rescuing my celery stalks and spinach leaves from my little helper... before all our ingredients end up with baby-dog teeth marks in them. I ended up giving her the first piece of whatever I was picking and then she would run off with the piece of bean or whatever - rather cute.

 

Mmmm mmmm, Delicious, Frikkie's favourite !

 

Back in the kitchen we had an entire basket full of spinach, parsley, celery, tarragon, marjoram, thyme and 2 chillies fresh from our own organic garden. In the photo is also a bunch of cilantro (young coriander leaves) that I'd thinned out the previous day. I was looking desperately for a few islands of salad burnet and found 3 babies from the seeds I'd sown along with the coriander, so I made some space for them to grow. I just love both the salad burnet and coriander because they will always reseed them self and you'll have some for ever if you don't pull them out (which = easy enough).

 

The Organic Nut house

It took me 5 times longer than usual to get ready for work this morning! First of all I had to take the puppy outside, then I gave her breakfast. Good news - she now eats it all within 20 min. :) Next I had to find Sashi (the cat) and give him antibiotics (he's been sick, but the vet doesn't really know what's wrong?). He spat the pill out on the floor, so I had to repeat the procedure. Then I had to watch the cats eat for 10 min to make sure Sash is eating his food and not getting sick... Last but not least I fed the poor fish, Lang, who is still living in a bucket!! :( And yes, the pond is still not completely fixed up! It has water in now, but the one spout is leaking and I can already see how they're going to mess everything up again and then we have to catch Lang AGAIN! :P So I rather just keep him out of harms way.


I have surrendered to the Suchness of all these people messing around our house and not ever getting it done... however all Suchness is subject to the inevitability of the only true constant (change)... and I blow my top every now and then at the pure uselessness of certain people (eg. the carpenter who arranged for us to open the house so he can install a door to our bathroom, then he arrives without the hinges to actually attach the door to the wall and so he reschedules... this happened 2 weeks ago as u might have guessed he hasn't been back yet to put the door up).  ??? I guess I will also have to accept the fact that not even the new house will ever be flawless. Like everything else in life there will always be a balance between flaws and perfection and without at least one flaw nothing is normal or complete!? Or at least that is what we tell ourselves in order to remain semi-sane and to find enough hope to carry on with life, love, paying tax etc.


At least the cats have started settling a little and are keeping their distance from Jenni, which I truly appreciate! I also have some photos to brag with the super-Fresh produce from our very own organic garden! :) It has been merely 2 months since we started the garden (there was literally NOTHING but weeds and clay before) and she (Mother nature) is already providing wholesome organic produce for the house!! 

 Home-grown organic lettuce from the garden

 Super-easy organic herbs and veggies